Life comes at you fast, especially in pro football.
Quarterback Brett Rypien has been elevated to the Denver Broncos 53-man active roster. Starting QB Drew Lock hurt his shoulder in the team’s Week 2 loss to Pittsburgh — Canadian Chase Claypool caught a touchdown for the Steelers in the 26-21 victory.
Lock won’t play in Week 3 and is out for the foreseeable future. Jeff Driskel is set to take over as the No. 1 option at the pivot position with Rypien moving into the backup role. 2014 third overall NFL pick, quarterback Blake Bortles was signed on Thursday. However, Rypien has better knowledge of the Broncos’ offence and he’ll be suited up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Denver hosts Tom Brady and the Bucs looking for their first win of the season.
The potential national in the CFL was the Broncos’ backup signal caller for three games in 2019, but did not take any snaps. Rypien can obtain his Canadian citizenship because his father Tim was born in Calgary making him eligible for dual-citizenship via jus sanguinis. Uncle Mark quarterbacked Washington to two Super Bowl titles.
The B.C. Lions did have Rypien on their negotiation list knowing about his Canadian lineage and therefore his potential as a national, however he has since been removed from the 45-man group of names. Rypien impressed NFL and CFL scouts at the East-West Shrine Game in January 2019. He completed 10-of-14 passes for 134 yards and one touchdown in leading the West team to victory at Tropicana Field.
The 24-year-old was signed by Denver as an undrafted free agent following the 2019 NFL draft and earned a practice roster spot after a strong training camp and pre-season completing 21-of-44 passes (61 percent) for 207 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions.
He started for the Boise State University Broncos since winning the job as a freshman in 2015, throwing for 13,578 yards – tops in Mountain West Conference history – and 90 touchdowns including 30 during his senior season with a 40-13 win-loss record.
Rypien has earned over $1.16 million in his NFL career so far and he’ll go from making $8,400 per week on the practice squad to over $35,000 on the active roster.
